Are you enthusiastic individual and would like to work with our wonderful children?

As a Befriender Group Leader, you will be required to plan, lead and facilitate activities. You will also take groups of children out into the community to access planned activities and have overall responsibility for children and staff.

The Disabled Children’s Short Breaks & Outreach Befriending Service is for young people aged of 8 to18. The main focus of our befriending service is to provide children with opportunities to make new friends, to help them improve their social skills and to support their independence. We do this by arranging fun activities in the community where children are supported to work on social interaction and independence skills. During these activities children are supported to learn various skills including, using money, using public transport and learning about stranger/danger awareness.

Successful applicants will be required to:

Lead the befriending group, liaising with group staff regarding dates/times of activities.

Plan and support disabled children to access activities in the community.

Undertake home visits to complete paperwork and to ensure paperwork is signed and kept up to date.

Complete admin tasks associated with the role – 1 hour per week

Source activities and stay within the expectations of cost.

You will have the ability to work as part of a team to support the service to provide positive outcomes for our young people.

You will be a positive role model for our children and be able to support them to develop their social interaction skills, friendships, and independence skills.

The chosen candidate will have experience of direct working with disabled children and hold a level 3 child care qualification.

You will be required to work one after school activity every other week (3 Hours) and one Saturday per month (6 Hours). In addition there will be one hour a week for admin time to undertake leader responsibilities.

A Disclosure and Barring Service Check at Enhanced level will be required for this post.

Please be aware that Thurrock Council are undertaking a pay review which will affect the grading of this vacancy – full details will be provided at conditional offer stage to the preferred candidate.

Our vision – An ambitious and collaborative community which is proud of its heritage and excited by its diverse opportunities and future.

Thurrock is an exciting place to live and work. We are an emerging cultural and arts centre, home to the production centre for the Royal Opera House and the National Skills Academy for Creative and Cultural Skills. We have retail and leisure that is among the best, with the magnificent intu Lakeside, and breath-taking countryside all around. There is over 1,000 acres of land ready for commercial development and there are likely to be 30,000 new homes built with transport links that can get you into London and other parts of the UK quickly and easily.

We are an area of massive growth; £6bn has already been invested by the private sector in Thurrock. We have seen 7,000 new jobs created, with a further 30,000 anticipated in the next 20 years, and 1,170 new businesses in the borough, with leading centres in ports and logistics, retail and creative industries.

Thurrock Council is an Investors in People (IIP) Gold accredited organisation and committed to equal opportunities. As a Disability Confident Employer, disabled people will be offered an interview where they meet all essential criteria on the person specification. We champion flexible working and job share applications are welcome.

We serve a diverse community where people are different yet equal. Diversity underpins everything we do.

How to Apply

Please apply online by clicking Apply. Please note, we do not accept CVs. If you have any difficulties in submitting an application form please email recruitment@thurrock.gov.uk.